Tesco and Sainsbury’s disconnect Click and Collect TfL scheme

Thursday 18 June 2015 - Editorial Assistant

Tesco and Sainsbury’s have pulled out a partnership with Transport for London that offers busy commuters the opportunity to pick up their groceries at Tube station car parks.

The scheme, which launched around 18 months ago, operates at tube stations across London also involves Asda, Waitrose and Ocado.

The two Big Four retailers announced yesterday that they have chosen to quit the initiative due to a lack of take-up by their customers.

A spokesman for Tesco said: “Our London customers have told us they prefer the Click and Collect service at our stores and online grocery shopping.” The grocery giant has seen many closures of parts of its business in a year that saw the UK’s biggest supermarket report a £6.4bn loss.

A Sainsbury’s spokeswoman added: “Although it was popular in some areas, it wasn’t used in others as much as we’d like, so we’re now focused on rolling out a grocery click and collect service in our stores across the country.”

Stuart Anderson, Head of Retail at TfL, said: “The Click and Collect trials have and continue to be a real success for us and the majority of our retail partners. Tesco and Sainsbury’s have decided not to extend beyond their trial, but we continue to work closely with them to identify other suitable retail opportunities on our network”.

Rival supermarket Asda revealed in May that it is trialling a new type of 24hour click and collect site in Lancashire.